Basically when you move to HD it's more of everything. More resolution... more drive space on a computer for editing...more money needed. To really see what it looks like you need to be able to have an HD playback monitor. All viewfinders on the camera are SD and you have to take into account that you are actually getting a lot more information than what you are looking at.

In my opinion I think that if you were to go with a sony z1u you'd be very pleased with the results, and since it was one of the first Prosumer mini HD cameras on the market the price has dropped a lot from even a year ago. The tapes are quite a bit more than any mini dv tape in terms of price, but the difference is easily seen.